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Penn State's Student Philanthropy Council, on Friday, Dec. 1, will host the second in a series of Philanthropy Phridays aimed at raising awareness among students about the important role philanthropy plays at Penn State. The event will be held on the ground floor of the HUB between 11:00 a.m. and 2:00 p.m. December's theme will focus on Student Affairs giving and highlight the ways in which students benefit from privately funded programs on campus, such as Late Night Penn State, Greek Life events, career services programs, and much more. Council member Matt Balaban said the event will provide students with the opportunity to "enjoy free giveaways, food, and the sharing of interesting information about the role philanthropy plays in our lives as Penn Staters."

Beginning immediately and carrying through Friday, Dec. 1 at 5 p.m., all full-time Penn State students can apply online at http://www.GoPSUsports.com for tickets to Penn State's appearance in the 2007 Outback Bowl on New Year's Day in Tampa, Fla. The sale of this year's bowl offering to Penn State students will be done exclusively online, listening to the feedback from the students on how and when they prefer to purchase tickets. If the allotment of student tickets is spoken for before the offering concludes Friday afternoon, a lottery system will be utilized to determine the distribution of tickets to the Nittany Lions' match-up with a team from the Southeastern Conference.
Read the full story at http://live.psu.edu/story/21029

Recording group O.A.R., along with special guest Gomez, will perform at 7:30 p.m. Sunday, Jan. 21, at the Bryce Jordan Center, University Park. Tickets are $27.50 for the public and $22.50 for University Park Penn State students (one per ID) for reserved seating and general admission floor access. Tickets go on sale at noon Saturday, Dec. 2, at the Bryce Jordan Ticket Center, Penn State Tickets Downtown, the Altoona campus ticket outlet, all Ticketmaster locations, by phone at (814) 865-5555 or (800) 863-3336 and at http://www.bjc.psu.edu/ online. Read the full story at http://live.psu.edu/story/21022 online.

The Big Ten Champion Penn State women's volleyball team (29-2) earned the No. 3 overall seed in the 2006 NCAA Tournament and will host Long Island (25-10) in the first round on Friday, Dec. 1 at 7:30 p.m. at Rec Hall. The other first round match on Friday will feature Cornell (18-8) and Hofstra (23-6) at 5 p.m. The winners of each of the first round matches will square off in the second round on Saturday, Dec. 2 at 7 p.m. at Rec Hall. The Nittany Lions captured their fourth consecutive and 10th overall Big Ten title with wins over Illinois and Northwestern last weekend. Not only was the crown the 50th overall Big Ten title for Penn State Athletics since starting Big Ten competition in 1991-92, but the women's volleyball program also made league history by becoming the first team to win four consecutive outright conference titles.

Penn State has been selected as the Big Ten representative in the Outback Bowl in Tampa, Fla. on Jan. 1, 2007. The Nittany Lions will be making their 22nd January bowl appearance under Coach Joe Paterno. The Nittany Lions will be playing in the Outback Bowl for the third time and will be participating in a New Year's bowl game for the third time in the past five seasons. Penn State's opponent is still to be determined and most likely won't be known until the Bowl Championship Series teams are announced on Sunday, Dec. 3. Southeastern Conference teams Arkansas, Auburn, Florida, Kentucky, LSU and Tennessee are among the squads under consideration as possible Penn State foes. The 21st Outback Bowl will kickoff at 11 a.m. ET on Monday, Jan. 1. ESPN will televise the contest to a national audience from Raymond James Stadium (65,567).

Students are advised that CATA bus service and the Loop and Link routes will operate on the break schedule on Nov. 22 and 24 due to the Thanksgiving holiday. The break schedule means service every 20-24 minutes from the commuter lots. There is no bus service on Nov. 23, Thanksgiving Day. Please see http://www.catabus.com for detailed Loop and Link information.

On Nov. 23-24, evening/weekend parking rules will be in effect. Most faculty/staff parking areas will be open to registered student vehicles, provided a valid parking permit is properly displayed.

In order to develop a more comprehensive and purposeful programming model at University Park, Vicky Triponey, vice president for Student Affairs, charged two separate committees during the spring semester of 2006. The first committee was to study the tenets of effective programming models and develop a set of recommendations to establish a campuswide and student-centered student programming board while the second work group was charged to develop a comprehensive proposal to establish an annual allocation process for the student activity fee. These work groups were comprised of a broad representation of students and student leaders. Throughout the course of their work these students consulted regularly with their peers and conducted several open student forums in order to solicit ideas and feedback as they developed their recommendations.

The American Diabetes Association (ADA) estimates there are 21 million Americans with diabetes -- 7 percent of the U.S. population. More troubling is the fact that a third of them don't know they have it. That is the average -- it is more common among black, Hispanic, Asian-American and Pacific Islanders and American Indians by a factor of about two compared to whites. Diabetes is a terribly destructive disease. It silently destroys circulation to the heart, brain, kidneys, legs, eyes and skin, increasing the risk of heart attack, stroke and kidney failure. According to the latest edition of The Medical Minute, a service of the Penn State Milton S. Hershey Medical Center, more than 60 percent of nontraumatic amputations are due to diabetes and it is the leading cause of blindness in the adults 20 to 74.

Saturday was senior day at Beaver Stadium, a day when senior members of the football team, Blue Band, cheerleading squad, dance team, and even the Nittany Lion received special recognition as they performed for the last time at home. Members of the student section at Beaver Stadium made sure their senior contingent received recognition, too. The students who faithfully posted banners for their favorite players, dressed up and cheered from the front row all season long added an additional banner to the regulars -- one that listed the names of all of the seniors of their group.

Snow has popped up in the weather forecast in the past few days. So far, it's just flurries, but soon it will be winter in central Pennsylvania and bad weather will be wreaking havoc with schedules. Don't be caught uninformed. Sign up for PSUTXT, and have messages sent directly to a cell phone when bad weather causes disruptions in class and office schedules at Penn State. PSUTXT is a text-messaging service that sends news and information directly to subscribers' cell phones. While individuals' phone plans may charge for receipt of text messages, subscription to the PSUTXT service is free.

The University's Board of Trustees Friday (Nov. 17) received an update on the state of Housing and Food Services at Penn State, and approved a modest increase of 4.82 percent to Penn State's average room and board rates, effective for the 2007-08 academic year at all nine of the University's residential campuses, including University Park. The room and board schedule is part of the 2007-08 Housing and Food Services budget of $145.1 million authorized by the board. Housing and Food Services at Penn State is an auxiliary enterprise, operating independent of tuition and state subsidies received by the University. "The Housing, Food Service and Residence Life programs are entirely self-sustaining enterprises of the University and receive no direct financial support from tuition or state funds," said Gail A. Hurley, associate vice president of auxiliary and business services. "The room and board rate proposal supports normal increases in annual operating expenses, and subsidizes an ongoing program of updating existing facilities with new amenities and safety features, such as sprinklers."

Approximately 400 Penn State students are served daily by University Health Services and Counseling and Psychological Services, and in recent years those services have been constrained by limited space and privacy in existing facilities. The University took another major step in addressing that challenge Friday (Nov. 17) as Penn State's Board of Trustees approved final plans for the construction of the new Student Health Center. "This new 63,000-gross-square-foot facility will support the highest professional standards of practice in a state-of-the-art, supportive and caring environment," said Gary C. Schultz, senior vice president for finance/treasurer of the University.

Penn State's Schreyer Honors College has received a $25 million gift commitment from its namesakes, William and Joan Schreyer, to support scholarships and other student and faculty programs. University President Graham B. Spanier made the announcement at the Board of Trustees meeting Nov. 17. The Schreyers endowed the college at its founding in 1997 with a $30 million gift. Together with support for other Penn State initiatives, their total philanthropic commitment to Penn State now exceeds $58 million. "Thanks to Bill and Joan's previous philanthropy, the Schreyer Honors College in less than a decade has earned a national reputation as one of the nation's finest honors education programs," said Penn State President Graham B. Spanier. "Now, through this latest act of tremendous generosity, the Schreyers have given the college the resources it needs to enrich the education of promising young scholars in extraordinary ways."

With more than 83,000 enrolled students, record numbers of minority students and current levels of applications exceeding the rate of last year's highest-ever total, Penn State remains one of the nation's most popular destinations for higher education. More students are attending Penn State than any other university in the Northeast, according to official enrollment figures for the 2006-07 academic year. A total of 83,721 students are enrolled at 24 campuses, including 42,039 at University Park. The official University enrollment figures represent a one-day snapshot of the student body, typically taken several weeks into the fall semester. "Penn State could well be the most popular university in the country," said Randall C. Deike, associate vice president for enrollment management and executive director for undergraduate admissions. "With record numbers of applicants and a significant increase in the percentage of admitted students accepting their offer of admission, prospective students and their families place a high value on a Penn State experience and a Penn State degree. The increases in enrollment across the University are even more significant as they come at a time when Pennsylvania is beginning to experience a decline in high school graduates, a trend expected to continue through 2015."